The Longest Ten Seconds
by Sita-chan
Summary: [slash, snitchskitts] [happy birthday, lute] Snitch and Skittery are abducted by a somewhat insane girl with an odd request...


*walks to a microphone* *taps it* Is this thing on? *pokes at it* Anyway. Greetings, everyone. *bows* I'm gonna skip the intro and get right into the good stuff. *grins* *holds up glass of champagne* This is a fic written for the seventeenth birthday of a rather infamous authoress known simply as "The Ultimate Snitch Fangirl" or "Band Geek Extraordianire" or sometimes, just "Lute." ^_^ Anyway. Lute is the first of two authors who inspired me to start writing _Newsies_ fics (the other being Mondie). This fic is dedicated totally, completely, and wholly to her. Love ya, Lute! [/sappy]

Disclaimer: Sita does not own Snitch or Skittery or anything to do with _Newsies_. She also does not own Lute. Too bad, so sad. *le cry*

Warnings: Slash, random humor, pointlessness

#Note: Did I mention that this was dedicated to Lute? I think I did. XD#

****

The Longest Ten Seconds

Skittery was floating, floating through the black nothingness. He tried to blink but found that his eyelids wouldn't move. Not that he particularly minded. The nothingness wasn't exactly _good_, but it wasn't _bad_ either. It just _was_. And he was content to just be there.

Then, someone smacked him across the face.

"OW!" He bolted upright, ignoring his pounding headache, and rubbed his glowing cheek. 

"Oh, God, Skitts, I'm sorry!"

Skittery blinked and stared at the horrified boy next to him.

"Snitch? That you?"

"Yeah, it's me. But, oh, _man_, Skittery, I'm _so_ sorry! I thought you was _dead_, and I got so scared, I just-"

"Snitch, it's okay!"

Snitch bit his lip and nodded. Skittery glanced around the room and frowned.

It was small, dark, and musty. The lights were extremely dim, and the only object in the room was a long mirror stretching across one of the walls.

"Snitch, where are we?"

"I dunno. I only woke up a couple seconds before you did."

"You know how we got here?" Snitch shook his head, then winced.

"All I know is that my head is killing me."

"Me, too," Skittery muttered, poking at the painful knot he'd discovered near his right temple.

"So, what happened?"

"Someone must've knocked us out and dragged us here."

"Well, yeah, but why?"

The lights brightened so quickly that they seemed to explode. The boys cried out as a skeletal head appeared in the mirror, cackling madly.

Then, the lights dimmed to a normal level and the skeleton was replaced with a normal girl sitting in a chair.

"I just _had_ to do that," she said, grinning. "Oh, _man_, the looks on your faces!" She leaned back in her chair, clutching her stomach and laughing.

Snitch and Skittery stared at each other, then at the girl.

She abruptly stopped laughing and blinked. "What?"

"Did you bring us here?" Skittery demanded.

The girl rolled her eyes. "No, I'm just hanging out in this mirror for the hell of it."

Snitch's eyes widened. "Really?"

"You're so cute when you're stupid. Anyway. Yes, I brought you here."

"And who are you?"

"I," she began proudly, "am an author. Call me Lute."

"That's a weird name."

"And _Skittery_ isn't?"

Skittery attempted to glare menacingly at her.

"How come you got us locked in this room?" Snitch asked, inching curiously towards the mirror.

Lute beamed at him. "Let's just say... together, the two of you have something that I want."

"Money?"

"No, though that _would_ be nice. I'll have to put that on my list." She grinned evilly and leaned forward. "What I'm looking for is... well... less material."

Skittery frowned. "What are you getting at?"

"I'll be frank. I'm gonna keep you two here until I get a good snog-fest out of you."

The room was silent. Skittery felt the blood drain from his face.

"You want us to _what_?!"

"Aw, c'mon, is it really _that_ hard to give a poor, lonely girl a little bit of snogging to watch?"

"Yes, it is! We ain't like that! It just... it ain't right! We could get _killed_ for doin' something like that!"

Lute raised an eyebrow. "Well, aren't _we_ defensive? Sounds like you're hiding something."

Skittery glared. "I'm not hiding _nothing_."

"Maybe we should just do it." Skittery froze and stared at Snitch. 

"Why?!"

"Well, she said she was gonna keep us here until she got what she wanted." He turned his innocent gaze to the brown-haired girl in the mirror. "Right?"

"Correct."

"So, why don't we just give it to her and get outta here. What could it hurt?"

"Yeah, listen to him, Skittery!"

"_You_ stay outta this." Lute bristled and crossed her arms in slight irritation.

Skittery sighed. He supposed that if Snitch didn't mind going through with it, he could stomach it as well. Though, as he continued to think about it, kissing Snitch didn't seem like such a bad idea. He and Snitch were better friends than most people seemed to notice, and he guessed that it would be better to have to kiss his friend than someone he hated. Besides, it's not like Snitch was a bad-looking boy. He was actually kinda cute, in a weird sort of way.

A platonic observation, of course. Skittery wasn't _attracted_ to Snitch.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?"

Snitch scratched his head. "What exactly are we doing?"

"She wants us to kiss."

Snitch's jaw dropped. "Wait, _what_?! She didn't say nothin' like that before!"

"What did you think snogging _was_?" Lute asked incredulously.

Skittery sighed as Snitch rocked back and forth uneasily.

"We don't have to do it if you don't wanna, Snitch," the taller boy said quietly, placing a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Aw, that's so _cute_! And, by the way, you do kinda have to do it, unless you don't mind living here for the rest of your lives."

"You ain't helping any!"

"Sorry, just trying to give you a little motivation!"

Skittery glared at her before turning his attention back to Snitch. The other boy was chewing nervously on his lower lip, avoiding Skittery's eyes.

"I dunno if I can do it, Skitts. I'm _scared_! What if the guys find out?"

"They won't!" Lute interjected. "Believe me, I can make sure of that. You'll just have to trust me on that."

"You knocked us out and threatened to keep us locked in this hellhole for the rest of our lives! Why the _hell_ should we trust you?!"

"Well, excuuuuse me," Lute huffed. "Look, nobody will find out. Okay? I promise. And I'll only ask for a _little_ kiss. Like... ten seconds. That's it! Ten measly little seconds! And then you've got the rest of your lives to pretend it didn't happen." She beamed. "How does that sound?"

The boys blinked at each other, then, simultaneously, gave a slow nod. Lute squealed and clapped her hands together, then leaned forward in her chair.

"Great! I _knew_ you'd see it my way!"

"Well, you didn't really give us any other way to see, didja?" Skittery muttered darkly. He smiled nervously at Snitch who returned the smile weakly. The other boy looked about as white as a ghost.

"I'm starting the clock." She snapped her fingers and a bright red, glowing "10" appeared above the mirror. "Ten seconds... go!"

Skittery took a deep breath, swallowed thickly, then leaned forward and unceremoniously pressed his lips to Snitch's.

Snitch's eyes widened.

He suddenly realized that kissing Skittery wasn't much different from kissing a girl. As a matter of fact...

Snitch found that he actually preferred kissing Skittery.

Smiling inwardly, he closed his eyes and enthusiastically returned the kiss. Much to his surprise, he felt Skittery grab the front of his shirt and pull him closer before sliding his tongue into Snitch's mouth. Snitch tangled his fingers in his friend's hair and let his own tongue do a bit of exploring of its own. The two boys completely forgot that they were trapped. They forgot about their throbbing headaches. They forgot that they were being meticulously scrutinized by a not-quite-sane girl within a mirror.

But even if they'd remembered, they wouldn't have cared.

They finally broke apart and stared at each other, shocked into silence. They were both panting heavily and covered with a light sheen of sweat. Snitch slowly brought his fingers to his lips as if he didn't believe what they had done.

Then, simultaneously, the boys turned their gazes to the mirror.

Lute sat calmly and stared back at them, a smug smile on her face. Wordlessly, she pointed to the space above the mirror where the "10" had been shining.

It now read "-93."

"That's an awfully long ten seconds, boys," she said quietly, obviously suppressing a wild grin. "As a matter of fact, if my math is correct, that looks to be about... well, it's a lot more than ten seconds."

Neither boy spoke.

Lute grinned and snapped her fingers. A door hidden within one of the walls suddenly slid open, and bright sunlight streamed into the room.

"Just give me a yell if you ever need anything." She grinned once more, then slowly faded from the mirror.

The silence that followed was so complete, it was almost tangible.

"... Skitts?"

"Yeah?"

"I think... I think I liked that."

"I did, too. And I think she knew we would. Maybe that was her plan from the start."

"Maybe..."

They walked slowly into the afternoon sun, their heads throbbing severely. Without a word Snitch gently enclosed Skittery's hand within his own. The taller boy half-smiled and softly gave Snitch's hand a squeeze.

The two boys then wandered down the street, dazed and confused, but strangely happy.

****

El Fin

Aw, I rather like that! It's pretty pointless and fluffy, but, eh. *give to Lute* FOR YOU, MY LOVE! *beams* HAPPY NIRFDAY, OH GREAT GODDESS OF SNITCH/SKITTS-NESS! *tackleglomps* *salutes* *disappears*


End file.
